2010년 12월 18일 토요일

Making Kimchi (김치) for the Winter

So today, my sister and I walked to the grocery store to buy ingredients to make kimchi. Despite the fact that it was raining, we just had to walk to the store to get the ingredients so that we could make kimchi. I couldn't drive yet because I don't have my license and I didn't want to drive illegally. Besides, the grocery store is near, like a mile of walking. We had our umbrella and wore warm clothes, I'm sure we are healthy enough, so we won't get sick easily.

Last year, I made kimchi. However, it was a total failure! Because I didn't have the right ingredients and the powder pepper I used was Thai chili, which is super spicy. It didn't look like kimchi at all. LOL And days later it smelled bad and got spoiled easily.

It's winter and most Koreans will likely make kimchi to preserve during the winter. I heard that homemade kimchi is the best and I would have to agree even though I haven't tried homemade kimchi yet. Why? Because I believe that while making kimchi, we put our love, strength, and proud-ness into making it. And it's hard to make good kimchi from scratch. This is why I think homemade is the best. Plus, it reminds me of 할머니와 엄마의 요리 (grandma and mom's cooking).

But today, I felt confident making kimchi after watching a lot of tutorials online. So I'm sure it will turn out to be edible kimchi. ㅋㅋ XD It was easy and fun making kimchi. We planned to let it ferment for a very long time, because the longer time it has, the better. Until then, I can't wait to eat it! I will have to wait patiently. Our kimchi looked fine, so I hope it turned out to be a success. When I get my camera back, I will definitely have to take a picture of it! Instead I'll use my webcam to take a picture of it. It's not the best quality camera. I had to use photoshop to make it look like it really is because my webcam can't flash and I needed lights. Isn't it tasty! XD